Hi! My name is Jill and I am excited to introduce myself under the Back in Line Chiropractic and Wellness family. I am a Physician Assistant, practicing since 2010. I grew up in central Illinois, close to the University of Illinois. I have been a Hawkeye fan my whole life so you can imagine how it was growing up thirty minutes from the Illini campus! I was fortunate enough to live out one of my dreams and attend the University of Iowa for undergrad where I graduated with a BA in Health and Sports studies. I had considered PT, athletic training, medical school and the like but found my calling after shadowing a Physician Assistant in college. I attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and graduated with a Masters of Science in Physician Assistant Studies(MSPA) in 2010!
After graduation, I practiced mainly Emergency Medicine in the St. Louis area and my husband and I moved to Cedar Rapids in 2014. My parents are both from this area so the move back to Cedar Rapids was rather nostalgic for me as I grew up traveling back and forth to Cedar Rapids to visit my grandparents. My Iowa roots run deep and it is good to be back! My husband and I started our family in 2015 and we have three awesome kids. You can find our family enjoying our time together, going on outdoor adventures, cheering on the Hawkeyes and enjoying our trips to just name a few things. My personal interests include all things sports, outdoors, reading and a recent new interest in gardening and flowers!
Upon moving back to Iowa, I worked at Virginia Gay Hospital doing both emergency and hospital medicine. I worked there until 2020 when I made the switch to St. Luke’s Hospital. This was closer to my home and allowed for a more flexible schedule for my family that was growing busier by the day!
Enter Dr. CJ! As time inevitably marched on, I felt the need to dive deeper into my health. I had always followed the rules of conventional medicine and it has served me well, but knew there had to be more under the surface that could be looked at for my future health and the health of my family. I had heard about Functional Medicine from a PA friend of mine and the rest is history! I was fascinated by what Functional Medicine, and later Integrative Medicine, had to offer and how it can truly optimize one’s health. I had expressed my interest to Dr. CJ when I had met her as a patient and we have become fast friends. Since this time, I have been living, breathing and eating Integrative Medicine.
I have finished my cardiovascular Integrative Medicine course by A4M(one of the leading Functional Medicine training programs) and continue to expand my knowledge in other areas of Integrative Medicine. Throughout my course as a PA, I have seen the sickest of patients and patients, who in their mind, have done everything right, but still have very unfortunate medical situations happen to them. I feel Integrative Medicine is a potential way to uncover and find these problems early. Did you know that close to 70% of people who have an acute myocardial infarction(aka…heart attack) have “normal” cholesterol by conventional standards! 70%! This blew my mind. My goal is to meet with people earlier in their health journey, diving deeper into their health profile, especially their cardiovascular health, detecting signs of subclinical heart disease, atherosclerosis, hypertension and more! By catching these things earlier, this will set them up for a future full of health and wellbeing!
My hope is to combine Eastern and Western medicine. To start practicing more preventative medicine, not “reactionary” medicine. To find and reverse disease states earlier. I want to work with patients and discuss where they want to go in regards to changing the course of their health. I hope to use the information I have learned, proven by science, in my years as a PA and the new information I will continue to learn to provide personalized, cutting edge medicine to help prevent disease in the future! I can’t wait to meet you and get this journey started together!
